Clasp combined with detachably mounted ornament



Jan. 14, 1969 F'. A. HODGE CLASP COMBINED WITH DETACHABLY MOUNTEDORNAMENT Filed Oct. 18. 1966 Pl-ll i P ALLAN HODGE Zt m ATTORNEY Int.Cl. A44c /02; A44c 17/20 United States Patent O 3,421,341 CLASP COMBINEDWITH DETACHABLY MOUNTED ORNAMENT Philip Allan Hodge, Warwick, RJ.,assigor to Anson, Inc., Providence, RJ., a corporation of Rhode IslandFiled Oct. 18,1966, Ser. No. 587,591

U.S. CI. 63--4 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A jewelry catch forclasping the ends of a flexible member and for simultaneously detachablysecuring a medallion to the exterior of a hollow housing forming thefemale portion of the catch. The medallion has a portion extending intothe hollow housing and Secured by male portion of the catch.

This invention relates to a combination of an ornamentable catch andremovable medallion retainer for jewelry of the type having flexiblemeans encompassing body portions, such as a necklace or bracelet.

More particularly, this invention relates to identification bracelets,having removable medallion and means for disengaging the bracelet.

Bracelets of the type known as identification bracelets are very common.The bracelet is constructed of a heavy chain, usually of silver, whichis joned to the opposite ends of a silver plate. Engraving may beaccomplished on the plate to provide suitable indcia. Often times,raised ornamentation, such as a medallion or insignia is secured to theupper surface of such silver plate to improve the design appearancethereof and/ or to provide information, such as would a school orservice insignia. The medallion in the present invention consists of asmall medallion separable from the plate. It will be appreciated thatthe applicable medallion may be one of hundreds that the public may finddesirable. A jewelry establishment in order to satisfy the wants ofpotential customers would have to keep on hand hundreds of braceletseach with a difierent medallion when the medallion is permanentlyaflixed thereto. It will be seen that it is of advantage to make themedallion removable or interchangea'ble, so that only the variousdifferent medallions need be kept on hand in the establshment while theactual bracelet may take limited forms. By means of the presentinvention, a customer need only select the medallion desired ormedallions, so that he will have a number at hand for use on variousoccassions.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providea bracelet or necklace having a removable medallion on the connectingplate thereof.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, theinvention consists of a novel ari-angement of parts more fully disclosedin the detailed description following, in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, and more specifically defined in the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawing:

FIGURE l is a front View of a bracelet embodyng the invention showingportions of the chain;

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line A--A of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3-6 are sections of the engraving plate with the top portionremoved to expose the end connections;

FIGURE 7 is a section on the line B-B of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 8 is a bottom perspective of a medallion;

FIGURE 9 is a view of a catch per se;

FIGURE 10 is a section of the engraving plate with top portion removedto expose the end connections having another embodiment and PatentedJan. 14, 1969 FIGURE 11 is a bottom perspective view of anotherembodiment of the medallion.

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the silverrectangular plate 11 is designed to receive suitable engraving on thesurface thereof as in conventional plates. The right narrow side has aloop 12 afiixed thereto, to which a conventional silver chain 13 issecured. At the other end of the plate 11, the plate is designed toreceive a catch 14, said catch termnates in a loop portion 15 so thatthe other end of chain 13 is Secured thereto to complete the annularconfiguration of the bracelet. It will be seen that a medallion 16 isposition ed on the surface of the plate 11. Similarly, a necklace may beconstructed where the chain, will, of course, being longer; and theplate may be smaller.

FIGURE 2 clearly shows the plate 11 to be generally hollow forming ahousing thereby having a top 11A and bottom 11B with connecting sidewalls 11C and 11D, along the long sides of the rectangular plate, theinternal portion 11C of one can be seen in FIGURE 2. Additionally, itwill be noted that the plate is arcuate so as to conform to the wrist ofthe wearer.

For better elucidation, FIGURES 2 and 3 should be viewed together. InFIGURE 3, with the top of plate 11 removed, the side walls 11C and 11Dare clearly discernible. It will be seen that loop 12 has a flat portion12A which extends into the right end of plate 11, as viewed. The loop 12is held in place by ridges 17, accomplished by mechanically upsettingthe sidewalls 11C and 11D. This may be accomplished when loop 12 is inposition with the flat portion 12A thereof sutably notched previously ornot notched, until the upsetting operation is effected, therebyaccomplishing the notching of flat portion 12A and producing ridges 17in one operation.

On the left side, as viewed is catch 14, which retains the medallion 16in place. The catch, or frame member, has a fra-melike configurationhaving a split. 19. Leg 20 of the catch by being relatively thinpossesses a certain degree of resiliency. By constructing the catch 14to have a slightly larger dimension, than the opening of the plate 11,catch 14 is lightly frictionally held in place.

The opposite side 21 of the catch has two notches 22 an-d 23, into oneof which ridge or detent 24 extends from sidewall 11C, thus acting as asecuring means. In the embodiment of FIGURES 3-6 and 9, it will be seenthat the catch 14 has a partial transverse member 25 with a cam surface26.

The medallion 16, has a U-shaped element 27 Secured to the bottomthereof as seen in FIGURES 7 and 8. The U-shaped element 27 is insertedin a passageway 28 in the plate 11; this passageway is perpendicwlar tothe side openings of the plate 11. As is seen from the figures the outeredge of one of the legs of the U-shaped element 27 is Secured to theunderside of the medallion; the outer side of the other leg is fiushwith the underside of bottom 11B of the plate 11.

The cam surface 26 of transverse member 25 rides against the internalapex portion of U-s'haped element 27 thereby pushing the element and,concurrently, the medallion towards the side of passageway 28 which isclosest to wall 11C. In this manner, member 25 constiutes a lockingmeans by which the medallion is locked into place. FIGURES 3 and 7 showthe medallion in a locked condition.

FIGURE 4 shows the catch 14 in a preliminary position wherein the catch14 is partially inserted, completing the locking of the bracelet withoutretaining the medallion. In other words, the catch 14 has been insertedso that the first notch 22 is occupied by ridge 24. At this point, theU-shaped element 27 of the medallion is already in position, while inFIGURE 5, it is not yet pres- &421341 ent. Once the U-shaped element 27of the medallion has been inserted into the passageway 28 as required,the catch 14 is moved further into the plate 11 as illustrated in FIGURE3, wherein the second notch 23 is now occupied by ridge 24. The framebeing resilient, due to its having a split 19, is compressible to permitthe ridge 24 to slide into and out of the notches as the catch is movedlongitudinally with respect to the plate 11. Knurls 29 on the loopportion 15 permit a better nger or fingernal grip to* compress the catch14 and to pivot side 21 of the frame towards leg 20 thereof.

FIGURE illustrates the use of two catches 14 at both ends of plate 11without necessarily having two passageways 28 so that only one medallionneed be applied although two could very well be employed by providingtwo passa geways in the pl-ate. However, by using two similar catches 14either side of the plate 11 may be the point for unlocking the jewelry,as desired. As in FIGURE 5, by unlocking the jewelry from the rightside, it is possible to do this without disturbing the retainedmedallion.

In FIGURE 6, one uses the leading edge 26A of the transverse portion 25as a locking means to abut against the internal apex portion of theU-shaped element of the medallion when the said element is turned 90from that shown resulting in the embodiment of FIGURE 11 of medallion16A and U-shaped element 27A. Again the tr-ansverse portion 25 retainsthe medallion in position, but in a slightly different manner.

When the set up of FIGURE 11 is used the catch may also be modified, asshown in FIGURE where catch 30 does not have a partial transverseportion separate from the side with the notches but has a wider partialportion 31 with its leading edge 31A acting as a locking means inabutment with the internal apex portion of U- shaped element 27A ofmedallion 16A. It will be apparent that rnany 'changes and modificationsof the several features described herein may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore apparentthat the foregoing description is by way of illustration of theinvention pather than lmitation of the nvention.

What is claimed is:

1. A combination ornamentable catch and removable medallion retainer forjewelry of the type having fiexble means for encomp assing body portionscomprising a substantially fiat hollow housing, one end having meansadapted to have one end of said flexible means attached thereto, saidflexible means having its outer end 'attached to a frame member, saidhousing being open at the opposite end and adapted to receive a majorportion of said frame member, said frame member having at least onenotch along one side thereof said housing having securing meansincluding a detent internally along a wall thereof adapted to m-ate withsaid notch of the frame member when it is inserted in the housingthereby retaining same in position, said housing having an openingtherethrough perpendicular to the end opening, `a medallion positionedover said opening, said medallion having a U-shaped depending portionwith the outer side of one leg thereof attached to the underside of saidmedallion, said U-shaped depending portion extendirg through saidopening, said frame member having looking means comprisn g a portionintermediate the outer portions of said frame member adapted to slideinto position between the legs of said U-shaped portion when said frameis slid into said position in said housing.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the frame member is slightly widerthan said opening in said housing and said frame member is split wherebythe frame is compressible so as to slide through said opening into saidhousing.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the frame has two notches.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein the transverse portion has a camsurface adapted to slide on the internal apex portion of the U-sh apeddepending portion.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein the other outer leg of theU-shaped depending portion is of a dimension to be flush with the bottomof said housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 464,809 12/ 1 89 1 Bonner 63 692,908,95 3 10/ 1959 Anderson. 3,135,03l 6/1964 Brosse 63- 1 X 3,299,6791/ 1967 Anderson 24-230 X F. BARRY SHAY, P' mzy Exam'ner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

